AP Water Resources Minister Inspects Polavaram Project
POLAVARAM PROJECT: Affirming that water from Polavaram will be released by 2022 Kharif, Minister for Water Resources P Anil Kumar Yadav flayed the previous government for neglecting the project, without taking any step for almost three years since 2014.
After reviewing the Polavaram project works with the authorities, the Minister assured that the government shall provide water from Polavaram by 2022 Kharif as per the instructions of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. He stated that the works were not taken up during TDP term for the first three years and rushed them in the last two years without proper supervision. He said that the diaphragm wall was damaged due to poor planning during the construction of the cofferdam, which was taken up during the TDP regime and completely neglected the rehabilitation programme without even rehabilitating a single household. He said that the opposition leaders are intentionally politicising the Polavaram issue and making harsh remarks against the government.
Further, Minister Anil Kumar said that they are moving forward with courage even in difficult pandemic situations, without taking any backstep citing Covid-19. Five engineers and a total of 80 staff in the Irrigation Department who worked on the Polavaram project died due to Covid and even during the lockdown scenario for almost a year, thousands of workers are still working bravely, he said and added that leaders should not speak in such a way as to undermine the morale of the workers.
He said that Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh didn't even come out for ten days, in the last one and a half year, while the entire state is going through a pandemic crisis and simply criticising the government by sitting in bedrooms through zoom conferences. Thousands of migrant workers from other states have gone to their homelands last year and now no workers can be found for taking the works, said the Minister adding that the Covid has stopped works not only in the state and the country but all over the world, He congratulated the staff who left their families and are working in Covid situations too. He said that the government planned to rehabilitate 17,000 houses by April this year, but with thousands of cases in both the Godavari districts, a situation arose where no one came forward to work. He assured that the government shall keep its word and no matter how many hurdles come, they will definitely rehabilitate all those families.
